I was going to say The Killers is as well but I just realised I scrolled past that too quickly. Pity - the Siodmak ranks higher for me.

I jumped to the wrong conclusion too fast too. What a shame, its easily one of my favourite noirs. I also had you down to select a Nikkitsu noir elab, I feel slightly let down in the mainstreamness of your choice

As Rawlinson says, I'd to sideline that very early because of cost as I think a non-American entry would have been interesting. I thought someone might go with Elevator to the Gallows, eg. So I asked what kind of representation classic noir had (in my heart I think the HoF Noir really has to open with one of those) and went with Murder.

I'm kind of glad it worked out the way it did, with a near even split between classic and more modern noir. Originally Harry T. was going to be taking part, but had to pull out because of real world stuff, but if he had been one of the 12 then the split would have been an even 6/6. I asked a couple of people to take part and a few of them voiced similar concerns, that watching 11 other noir films would be a bit overwhelming. And I think it might have been the idea of 11 classic noir, because I doubt many people would have been expecting something like Blue Velvet or Roger Rabbit. And I think having such an even split might encourage more takers the next time a theme round seems limiting. Because I think this actually seems more limiting at first glance than even the Christmas round did. Because for the Christmas round you could have drama, family films, westerns, light comedy, black comedy, animation, shorts, even a summer action film. With noir it just seemed like 40s, b&w, and the mix shows it doesn't have to be that way.

To be honest, the themed rounds have been my favourite to follow, just to see the sheer variation that can come from a seemingly limiting theme. Also, it's cool to see classics of the genre mix with more obscure gems, so in the horror round The Exorcist and Suspiria mixed with Deep Red and Session 9. For this round I'd never have thought of Roger Rabbit or Kiss Kiss, but I love them both.

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"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

I'm kind of glad it worked out the way it did, with a near even split between classic and more modern noir. Originally Harry T. was going to be taking part, but had to pull out because of real world stuff, but if he had been one of the 12 then the split would have been an even 6/6. I asked a couple of people to take part and a few of them voiced similar concerns, that watching 11 other noir films would be a bit overwhelming. And I think it might have been the idea of 11 classic noir, because I doubt many people would have been expecting something like Blue Velvet or Roger Rabbit. And I think having such an even split might encourage more takers the next time a theme round seems limiting. Because I think this actually seems more limiting at first glance than even the Christmas round did. Because for the Christmas round you could have drama, family films, westerns, light comedy, black comedy, animation, shorts, even a summer action film. With noir it just seemed like 40s, b&w, and the mix shows it doesn't have to be that way.

That's worryingly close to a stereotype of what noir is and thinking if you've seen one you've seen them all. Or thinking they all need to be constructed with eg a femme fatale front and center, which is bobbins. Especially as some might be doing it from something like Laura which is itself something of an anomaly in the genre as drawing room murder mysteries did not lend themselves to the key genre theme of fate, so there are probably only a handful of others like it. So I'd echo your pleasure at the range of films on show here - but even if you'd stuck to 40s/50s you could go from the sumptious Laura, to the extreme Detour, the rural weirdness of Red House to a straighter pulp like Maltese Falcon. The domestic destruction of Pitfall vs the domestic explosion of Big Heat. The wild Gun Crazy to the beautifully constructed Reckless Moment. The quick and dirty heist film like Desperate vs the complex like The Killing. S'not all about studios enjoying the cost benefits of lower lighting bills. You could argue it's the French influence that's the strongest in noir proper, IMO.

That's worryingly close to a stereotype of what noir is and thinking if you've seen one you've seen them all. Or thinking they all need to be constructed with eg a femme fatale front and center, which is bobbins.

I agree, but if you're not that familiar with the genre and you're only aware of the most obvious classics, or of the stereotypes most commonly associated with the genre, that is how you're going to think of it. And if you're being asked to not only nominate one yourself, but also to watch 11 others from that genre in the space of 2 months, in some cases maybe having to buy those films before seeing them, I can completely understand why it's offputting. And someone just looking from the outside isn't going to really be able to understand the difference between In a Lonely Place and The Big Sleep without watching them, they're just going to know they're two Bogart films that are being classed as noir. But anyone can look at this list and see that something like Roger Rabbit is worlds away from Double Indemnity, without really having to watch either. And I think that might help open people up for the next time there's a more seemingly restrictive theme round.

I think where I disagree on Double Indemnity is that the dialogue/work at the start is among the best in cinema - the meeting and the repartee between Walter and Phyllis is breathtakingly quick, the coverage of the towel, the speed limit allusions. It's gorgeous stuff in the language of Chandler framed by Wilder into a sexual spat.

Ditto on Jaffe - he was this close to pulling Asphalt into my noir list. And why isn't the broken down Esther Howard awesome?

I think that the scene's one of the weaker in the film because the rest of the film is much better. In terms of dialogue, the scene where Keyes points out how it can't be suicide trumps that early moment. Even in terms of moments between Walter and Phyllis, I prefer the second meeting in the market. Compared to those great moments, it comes off as weaker, though it's still alright if viewed in isolation from the rest.

Part of my disappointment in the film is due to it previously being in my all-time top 10. This rewatch has knocked it down to at least the bottom half of my 100.

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"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

To be honest, I can't remember who she was. My measure of an awesome support character is one who gets all the best lines, and improves a scene just by turning up in it. There wasn't really anyone like that in Murder, My Sweet.

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"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

To be honest, I can't remember who she was. My measure of an awesome support character is one who gets all the best lines, and improves a scene just by turning up in it. There wasn't really anyone like that in Murder, My Sweet.

My awesome tends to be performance - which I guess is partly improves a scene, but I think there's a lot more depth to it than that.

I picked up the Touch of Evil bluray earlier this year, so that worked out neatly.

Having got it off the shelf, I then spent a while working out which frickin version to watch. The original theatrical version? The "preview version"? The reconstructed version from 1998? And then, once I'd decided on a year, I then had to choose between aspect ratios! Would the widescreen version cut bits off the top and bottom, or would the 1:1.37 version cut bits off the sides? DECISIONS.

I eventually decided on the theatrical version, widescreen. It's good, yeah. I wasn't blown away by it, I'm going to be honest. A solid 4 out of 5. Heston is the least convincing Mexican ever. And I was disappointed that, after the car explodes at the start, he didn't drop to his knees and pound the earth, screaming, "YOU MANIACS. YOU BLEW IT UP".

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That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne.

Bristol Bad Film Club A place where movie fans can come and behold some of the most awful films ever put to celluloid.

It's got Heston - that's gotta be a star off at least, sadly. Sounds like the Blu Ray is the BR version of my 50th Anniversary Edition, although I don't think mine offered AR choices. With the bright gold box, though, it means it's easy to find. My first viewing was Cutter's Way - I can't see that not being in my top 6.